1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus to provide an integrated intelligent environment for the production and post-production of multi-media works. In particular, the present invention relates to the integration of a plurality multi-media production and post-production resources into a networked multi-media production and authoring system. The system provides multiple users with control of a plurality of dynamically allocated shared resources using a common intuitive user interface.
2. Art Background
A variety of resources must be integrated, scheduled and coordinated in the production of a feature film or video presentation. Various production media resources such as video, dialog audio, special effects, music audio, and graphics must be edited and selectively integrated into the overall production. Consequently, computer controlled editing systems and integration methods have been used for editing and synchronization of completed music scores, special effects sequences and the like.
Although present editing systems are capable of machine control, they provide few capabilities in dealing with the content of the actual program being edited. Frequently, identifiable sequences of a production, such as special effects, are accomplished through the use of special effects personnel who operate independently of the primary director and production scheduler. Discrete teams of individuals may work on audio editing, video editing, titles, special effects and other related operations required to collectively form a multi-media production. For example, suppose an advertisement agency decides to produce a beer commercial in which the star is a dog. In the final day of post-production, an executive makes a decision which requires that the dog be removed from the commercial and that girls in bikinis should be inserted as the stars of the commercial. If the dog was shot using well-known blue screen image technology and inserted in the final production as a matte layer, it would be easy to remove the image of the dog and replace him with the girls in the bikinis. However, even assuming that the dog had been shot using a blue screen technique, the task remains to remove all dog sounds and other elements related to the previous star. This task is not simple, nor inexpensive, using today's technology.
As will be appreciated from the discussion which follows, the elimination of the dog and the replacement with the girls may be accomplished during a single edit session at one workstation utilizing the present invention's integrated multi-media production and authoring system. Utilizing the present invention, cross media links are established between the various production PG,4 resources comprising a multi-media production. Using a common user interface (see copending patent application, Ser. No. 07/622,821, filed Dec. 4, 1990) the visual image of the dog may be removed and the bikinied girls added. Since the audio track with the dog sounds is linked to the dog visual image, it is easily removed such that an update of all audio and related information is completed, necessary to modify the commercial in a post-production process.
The present invention provides an integrated intelligent studio in which a multi-media production may be realized in a coordinated fashion. Multi-media projects cover many communication media types, including printed materials, audio programs, television shows, feature films and many others. The ability to integrate the functions of the resources utilized in the production of multi-media projects into a single shared system provides a level of performance and capability unknown in the prior art. A variety of hardware and software tools addressing each phase of the multi-media production provide machine readable information from the initial project conception to completion. The present invention's approach of integration permits individual or grouped elements in the multi-media production to be incrementally added or deleted from the production.
As will be described, the present invention provides the users with total control of all allocated production resources through a high-performance multi-media workstation. Multiple workstations may be configured into a distributed network architecture, each specifically configured for a range of tasks, as described more fully below.